That thought ran through Tech senior Breeann David’s mind after a couple of weeks went by, and she hadn’t heard back if she made a US National Team.

After practice one day, Tech coach Don Flora called her over and showed her something on his phone.

“I started reading the email, ‘Bree David made the US National Team that’s traveling to Europe,’” the outside hitter said. “I wasn’t expecting anything after a few weeks passed. At first I was shocked. But then I realized I went to the tryout to play and it paid off.”

When David and her Red Raider teammate Rachel Brummitt went to the tryout for a US National Team in Colorado, Brummitt told her there was no consequence to not making a team. Just go in there and play.

“I’m so proud of her,” Brummitt said. “She works so hard and is so talented. She deserved everything that she got. I’m just really glad she got to go.”

David was one of 12 players selected to compete in the European Tour that ran from July 8-19.

It was her first trip overseas. During that time, David realized how rushed her life is compared to the locals she encountered.

“There weren’t any fast food places over there,” David said. “You had to go in and sit down. Some of the girls had a hard time adjusting to that. They were like ‘I need my food right now so we can go do this.’ I really like it because we didn’t realize how stressed we are while we’re rushing around. It was nice to take things slowly.”

The team began its trip in Venice, Italy, before traveling to Maribor, Slovenia, for a four-day training camp. After training sessions and friendly scrimmages there, Team USA traveled to Pula, Croatia, and competed in the Global Challenge.

“I really liked Slovenia because being from a small town it was kind of out in the country,” David said. “It wasn’t in a big city really. Where we stayed was off in rolling green hills and all the little bitty houses had flower boxes everywhere.”

David’s team, led by UCLA head coach Mike Sealy, finished second, losing only to Slovenia in the championship match.

Making a national team was something David never expected, especially since basketball was her favorite sport early on.

“I thought I might be playing college basketball,” David said. “Once I started playing volleyball, I thought I’d play in college. It was never ‘Hey, I’ll maybe play on a national team one day.’”

David always played basketball but never played volleyball competitively until seventh grade.

Her mom, Megan, coached volleyball after playing at Texas Tech in the 1980s.

“My mom was a volleyball coach when I was really little but then she got out of it to raise us,” David said. “Whenever I was in sixth grade she got back in, so I was around practices more. Once I was getting older and growing, I was able to do more with volleyball and it started becoming my favorite sport.”

With her mom in the top 10 in every career blocking category at Texas Tech, along with her aunt Susan Kelly McGuire and her father, Stan, a former Tech football player and uncle Monte McGuire, Tech’s starting quarterback in the 1980s, David said she’s been a Red Raider since she was born.

“It’s interesting being where they were, literally,” David said. “I couldn’t imagine being at another place.”

David enters her senior season needing 205 kills to reach the top 10 in the Tech career record book and 243 kills to become the ninth player to reach 1,000 kills over a career.

While she admits that she no longer leads the laid-back lifestyle she encountered in Europe, what she once passes off as a cool experience in Colorado turned out to be an international experience she’ll never forget.